Cigarettes, cigars and pipes are popular smoking articles that employ tobacco in various forms. For example, a traditional type of cigarette has a substantially cylindrical rod-shaped structure and includes a charge, roll or column of smokable material, such as shredded tobacco (e.g., in cut filler form), surrounded by a paper wrapper, thereby forming a so-called “smokable rod”, “tobacco rod” or “cigarette rod.” Normally, such a cigarette has a cylindrical filter element aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the tobacco rod. Preferably, a filter element comprises plasticized cellulose acetate tow circumscribed by a paper material known as “plug wrap.” Preferably, the filter element is attached to one end of the tobacco rod using a circumscribing wrapping material known as “tipping paper.” It also has become desirable to perforate the tipping material and plug wrap, in order to provide dilution of drawn mainstream smoke with ambient air. Descriptions of cigarettes and the various components thereof are set forth in Tobacco Production, Chemistry and Technology, Davis et al. (Eds.) (1999); which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. A traditional type of cigarette is employed by a smoker by lighting one end of the tobacco rod. The smoker then receives mainstream smoke into his/her mouth by drawing on the opposite end (e.g., the filter end or mouth end) of the burning cigarette.
Through the years, efforts have been made to improve upon the components, construction and performance of smoking articles that require combustion of tobacco for smoke generation. Many of the improvements that have been proposed purportedly attempt to provide the sensations associated with cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking, but without delivering considerable quantities of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis products that result from burning tobacco. See, for example, the various references described, discussed, or referenced in U.S. Pat. No. 7,753,056 to Borschke et al.; which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Certain types of cigarettes that employ carbonaceous fuel elements have been commercially marketed under the brand names “Premier” and “Eclipse” by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. See, for example, those types of cigarettes described in Chemical and Biological Studies on New Cigarette Prototypes that Heat Instead of Burn Tobacco, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Monograph (1988) and Inhalation Toxicology, 12:5, p. 1-58 (2000). Additionally, a similar type of cigarette recently has been marketed in Japan by Japan Tobacco Inc. under the brand name “Steam Hot One.” Furthermore, various types of smoking products incorporating carbonaceous fuel elements for heat generation and aerosol formation recently have been set forth in the patent literature. See, for example, the types of smoking products proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,836,897 to Borschke et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 8,469,035 to Banerjee et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 8,464,726 to Sebastian et al.; US Pat. Pub. Nos. 2012/0042885 to Stone et al.; 2013/0019888 to Tsuruizumi et al; 2013/0133675 to Shinozaki et al. and 2013/0146075 to Poget et al.; PCT WO Nos. 2012/0164077 to Gladden et al.; 2013/098380 to Raether et al.; 2013/098405 to Zuber et al.; 2013/098410 to Zuber et al. and 2013/104914 to Woodcock; EP 1808087 to Baba et al. and EP 2550879 to Tsuruizumi et al.; which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
In recent years, there have been proposed numerous smoking products, flavor generators and medicinal inhalers that utilize electrical energy to heat and vaporize volatile materials, or otherwise attempt to provide many of the sensations of smoking, without burning tobacco to any significant degree. See, for example, the various types of aerosol generation devices described, discussed, or referenced in U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,320 to Robinson et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/826,929, filed Mar. 14, 2013, to Ampolini et al., Ser. No. 14/011,992, filed Aug. 28, 2013, to Davis et al., and Ser. No. 14/170,838, filed Feb. 3, 2014, to Bless et al.; which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
In this regard, certain tobacco products that have employed electrical energy to produce heat for smoke or aerosol formation, and in particular, certain products that have been referred to as electronic cigarette products, have become commercially available throughout the world. Representative products that resemble many of the attributes of traditional types of cigarettes, cigars or pipes have been marketed as ACCORD® by Philip Morris Incorporated; ALPHA™, JOYE 510™ and M4™ by InnoVapor LLC; CIRRUS™ and FLING™ by White Cloud Cigarettes; BLU™ by Lorillard Technologies, Inc.; COHITA™, COLIBRI™, ELITE CLASSIC™, MAGNUM™, PHANTOM™ and SENSE™ by Epuffer® International Inc.; DUOPRO™, STORM™ and VAPORKING® by Electronic Cigarettes, Inc.; EGAR™ by Egar Australia; eGo-C™ and eGo-T™ by Joyetech; ELUSION™ by Elusion UK Ltd; EONSMOKE® by Eonsmoke LLC; FIN™ by FIN Branding Group, LLC; SMOKE® by Green Smoke Inc. USA; GREENARETTE™ by Greenarette LLC; HALLIGAN™, HENDU™, JET™, MAXXQ™, PINK™ and PITBULL™ by Smoke Stik®; HEATBAR™ by Philip Morris International, Inc.; HYDRO IMPERIAL™ and LXE™ from Crown7; LOGIC™ and THE CUBAN™ by LOGIC Technology; LUCI® by Luciano Smokes Inc.; METRO® by Nicotek, LLC; NJOY® and ONEJOY™ by Sottera, Inc.; NO. 7™ by SS Choice LLC; PREMIUM ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE™ by PremiumEstore LLC; RAPP E-MYSTICK™ by Ruyan America, Inc.; RED DRAGON™ by Red Dragon Products, LLC; RUYAN® by Ruyan Group (Holdings) Ltd.; SF® by Smoker Friendly International, LLC; GREEN SMART SMOKER® by The Smart Smoking Electronic Cigarette Company Ltd.; SMOKE ASSIST® by Coastline Products LLC; SMOKING EVERYWHERE® by Smoking Everywhere, Inc.; V2CIGS™ by VMR Products LLC; VAPOR NINE™ by VaporNine LLC; VAPOR4LIFE® by Vapor 4 Life, Inc.; VEPPO™ by E-CigaretteDirect, LLC; VUSE® by R. J. Reynolds Vapor Company; Mistic Menthol product by Mistic Ecigs; and the Vype product by CN Creative Ltd. Yet other electrically powered aerosol delivery devices, and in particular those devices that have been characterized as so-called electronic cigarettes, have been marketed under the tradenames COOLER VISIONS™; DIRECT E-CIG™; DRAGONFLY™; EMIST™; EVERSMOKE™; GAMUCCI®; HYBRID FLAME™; KNIGHT STICKS™; ROYAL BLUES™; SMOKETIP®; SOUTH BEACH SMOKE™.
Additional manufacturers, designers, and/or assignees of components and related technologies that may be employed in aerosol delivery device include Shenzhen Jieshibo Technology of Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen First Union Technology of Shenzhen City, China; Safe Cig of Los Angeles, Calif.; Janty Asia Company of the Philippines; Joyetech Changzhou Electronics of Shenzhen, China; SIS Resources; B2B International Holdings of Dover, Del.; Evolv LLC of OH; Montrade of Bologna, Italy; Shenzhen Bauway Technology of Shenzhen, China; Global Vapor Trademarks Inc. of Pompano Beach, Fla.; Vapor Corp. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Nemtra GMBH of Raschau-Markersbach, Germany, Perrigo L. Co. of Allegan, Mich.; Needs Co., Ltd.; Smokefree Innotec of Las Vegas, Nev.; McNeil AB of Helsingborg, Sweden; Chong Corp; Alexza Pharmaceuticals of Mountain View, Calif.; BLEC, LLC of Charlotte, N.C.; Gaitrend Sarl of Rohrbach-lès-Bitche, France; FeelLife Bioscience International of Shenzhen, China; Vishay Electronic BMGH of Selb, Germany; Shenzhen Smaco Technology Ltd. of Shenzhen, China; Vapor Systems International of Boca Raton, Fla.; Exonoid Medical Devices of Israel; Shenzhen Nowotech Electronic of Shenzhen, China; Minilogic Device Corporation of Hong Kong, China; Shenzhen Kontle Electronics of Shenzhen, China, and Fuma International, LLC of Medina, Ohio, and 21st Century Smoke of Beloit, Wis.
However, embodiments of electronic smoking articles may be difficult to manufacture. In this regard, for example, the various components in electronic smoking articles may be relatively small and/or fragile. Thus, advances with respect to manufacturing electronic smoking articles would be desirable.